


among us

by orphan_account



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Among Us AU, Betrayal, Crack Fic, Evil Charles, Imposter, M/M, Other, but also like really dumb, lando is a sweetie, space, yes you fucking read that right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:20:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27150340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Lando is on a space ship that is falling apart around himHe has wiring to fix and Med Bay scans to completeand if that's not enough -there's an Imposter onboard trying to kill them allAt least Red is cute
Relationships: Charles Leclerc/Lando Norris
Comments: 10
Kudos: 50





	among us

**Author's Note:**

> hi y'all  
> i have no explanation for this  
> but it was fun to write  
> anyways quick colour check  
> (not necessary but in case u wanna know)
> 
> Orange = Lando   
> Red = Charles  
> Dark Blue = Max  
> Purple = Lewis  
> Pink = Seb  
> Cyan = Valtteri  
> Brown = Carlos  
> White = Pierre  
> Yellow = Daniel 
> 
> hope u enjoy and see u in the end notes x

TOO SLOW. TRY AGAIN.

Lando cursed his trembling hands as the message flashed up once again on the dashboard. He’d chosen to go to Admin for his first task, basing his judgement on the proximity to the cafeteria, on its connectivity to the rest of the ship and therefore to the rest of his tasks, and because of its relative ease. 

TOO SLOW. TRY AGAIN. 

Its  _ alleged  _ ease. 

Lando wasn’t finding anything easy about it. 

He cursed once again, fighting the rising anxiety in his stomach. They didn’t have much time left. The ship was headed to base, limping along the best she could, but if machinery had legs, she was on her last of them. Without constant maintenance from the crew, there’d be a complete systems failure. And if there was a complete systems failure…

Lando didn’t like to think about it. Didn’t  _ want  _ to think about it.

Naturally, it was the only thing he could think about. 

Lurking in the back of his mind, a constant reminder of what was at stake. What would happen if he didn’t complete his tasks. If he didn’t  _ hurry up.  _

And along with that fear, another worry coiled its way around his brain, twisting inside his gut. The fear that, if he took too long about it, someone might get suspicious. Someone might name him Imposter. 

Lando took a steadying breath, willed his trembling hands to  _ stay still,  _ and swiped again. 

CARD ACCEPTED. THANK YOU.

_ Finally.  _

Lando felt a small rush of relief within him, dropping the tension in his shoulders a fraction, letting adrenaline buoy him up.  _ One task down, nine more to go. _ That was a sobering thought as he straightened up, tucking his card away. There was still a long way to go. A long way, where anything might go wrong.  _ One at a time, Lando. We’ll get through this. _

Mind clear, he tapped open his map, scanning the scaled down interior of the ship. His task list blinked in the top corner. There was wiring to be fixed in Storage, just round the corner from Admin. Once he’d completed that short task, he could go on Shields for his task there. Lando minimised his map, and set off, out of Admin and turning down the corridor when - 

Alarms blared, flashing red in time to claxon beats. 

EMERGENCY MEETING

*

It was dark in the cafeteria. Dark, save for the fluorescent lights glowing weakly just above the table in the very centre of the room. It made a sickly light for the perimeter of the table, casting the rest of the room into a dirty faded gloom. Lando swallowed. It was best not to look into that darkness. But it felt worse turning his back to it, especially with what he knew about the Imposter roaming the halls. Hairs rising on the back of his neck, Lando pushed down his rising fear, and instead concentrated on the table in front of him and the people around it. 

Ten crewmates, around the table. 

Nine others, excluding Lando himself.

Eight teammates, working towards safety and home.

One Imposter, bent on killing them all.

Lando cast his eyes around. To Purple, who’d taken unofficial control in a calm, competent manner, to Pink, confidently quiet and encouragingly kind, to White, a hint of steely determination shining out from under his obvious nerves, to Cyan, Green, Dark Blue, Yellow, Brown -

Red.

Lando’s breath caught in his throat.

Red lounged back, eyes focused, mouth set. He bore the same hardened but weary expression that covered the face of every member around the table and yet - 

There was something  _ different  _ about him.

Something behind his shielded eyes - 

The mysterious quirk to his lips -

His  _ eyes -  _

Which were now fixed on Lando.

Lando felt his stomach flip, his heart flutter, and quickly looked away.

_ Shit. _

They were in the middle of a  _ crisis  _ where not only was the ship failing, but someone on board was actively trying to  _ kill  _ everyone, meaning everyone was on the lookout for suspicious activity, and what does Lando do?

He stares at Red like a fucking creep, that’s what he does.

His heart thudded in his chest, and Lando risked a look up at him through his eyelashes. There was a twinkle in Red’s eyes and his mouth quirked like he was trying to hide a grin.

Slowly, shyly, Lando smiled back.

*

Lando hurried back down to Storage, continuing along his interrupted plan. Wiring in Storage, then onto Shields and beyond. Reaching the Storage walls, he opened the grate and hissed at the mess of wiring that lay within. Coils and loops, masses and masses of tangled colours all intertwined and inextricable. Sighing, he reached in, rooting around to find the disconnected wires that had caused the failure. He drew them along carefully, connecting the colours with their correct match. Yellow to yellow. Blue to blue. Red…

Lando flashed back to fleeting glances and amused smiles. He felt his face warm at the thought, and the corner of his mouth pulling upwards to meet the blush on his cheeks. 

Red.

A small part of him, a selfish part of him, almost wished the meeting could have lasted longer. That someone had actually died, instead of Brown, Spanish accent quaking in apology as he explained, being jumpy and slamming the button by mistake. At least then he could’ve seen Red for a little longer, proved that he wasn’t just a blushing idiot who stared like a creep. At least he could’ve had a little longer to savour the glimmer in Red’s eyes, to bask in the smile he sent his way -

But that was the  _ selfish  _ part of him, Lando told himself, giving his brain a mental shake and connecting the last two wires. He was  _ glad  _ the vote had been skipped so quickly, glad the crew had decided to be lenient rather than take action over Brown’s odd behaviour. Because the alternative -

Lando didn’t think he was ready for the alternative.

He replaced the grate with a shudder.

Next task.

*

Shields had been quick and easy. How the ship’s shields had become so misaligned, Lando had no idea, but he’d managed to get them primed and ready with little difficulty. Consulting his map once again, he headed out up to Navigation, patrolling through the corridors, past one corner, turning the other to see - Red. Red, walking out of Navigation. 

Lando’s eyes widened and his breath got tangled up with the heart now suddenly in his throat. They locked eyes, and after a moment of surprise, Red gave Lando a smile that - 

Well. 

They were in the middle of a  _ crisis,  _ Lando reminded his stupid brain, a  _ crisis,  _ now was not the time to let his knees go weak and his brain turn mushy on him. His internal melt down must have showed, in glazed eyes and a drooling mouth perhaps, because Red smirked and stepped closer, opening his mouth to say -

EMERGENCY MEETING. DEAD BODY FOUND.

Lando fought the urge to groan in frustration. He glanced quickly to his right, and hoped his crewmate mistook it for anxiety over their situation, for the dead body.

And not over another encounter with Red cut short.

Lando  _ hated  _ his brain sometimes.

*

Yellow had reported the body, a mouth made for smiles unnaturally downturned into a solemn expression as he recounted his tale. He’d been in Medbay, had completed his scan, then found the body in the corridor to Upper Engine. He’d barely finished his tale before Dark Blue jumped in, blue eyes pinning Red from across the table. 

_ Red is sus _

Distrust, pouring across every word. Red had been lingering. Standing suspiciously near, waiting, following - hoping to get a crewmate alone. But Dark Blue had stuck by Yellow, confirmed over the table with a nod from his friend, until they’d separated for a moment to complete separate tasks. Red had pattered off after Dark Blue, where he’d lost sight of him for a time, before Yellow sounded the alarm. Red had been in the area, verified by two witnesses, and had been acting odd. 

Suspicious. 

Lando felt the weight of the table turn on Red, multiple pairs of eyes regarding him in cold light, assessments and judgements quickly passed, calculated -

He spoke up before he could stop himself.

Before he lost his nerve.

Because it was true, he reasoned with himself. Red had been on the other side of the ship just before the alarm went off, placing him well out of range for the attack. He’d seen him. 

Lando pushed down the snaking thought that he’d defended Red because of the flipping manoeuvre his stomach and heart decided to pull whenever Red looked at him like - like  _ that.  _ Justified his defence as merely making sure they got the right guy, that they didn’t hand out a guilty verdict to one who might be innocent.

He could have two reasons for defending Red.

And when the vote was skipped once again, when Purple decreed there was too little evidence for the time being, when they disbanded and Red, Red looked at him with a mix of gratitude and light and  _ something  _ in his eyes - when he looked at him like  _ that -  _

_ Who could blame him? _

*

Alarms blared. Red light, glass casing, pulsing across the halls in bloody streaks.

OXYGEN DEPLETED. WARNING. OXYGEN DEPLETED.

Lando felt fear grip his heart, an icy streak that froze him to the core.  _ Oxygen depleted.  _

Of all ways to die - that was what scared Lando the most.

_ Oxygen depleted. _

Sweat broke out on Lando’s brow and he narrowed his eyes.  _ No.  _ He was  _ not  _ going to die here. Not like this. Instinct propelled him from his frozen state, launching off from stationary into a desperate run. With each step, he willed himself to breathe, to calm his thudding brain. There was no time for panicking. No time for anything but cool, steely brained focus. He heard footsteps to his left, and knew his crewmates were on their way.  _ Thank God.  _ They’d need as many people as possible in Reactor to fix a meltdown of this scale. He turned the corner and completed the last dash into Reactor, finding Cyan already waiting at one of the control panels. Lando sprinted to the other one, forcing his hand against the glass to initiate the scan. A green flicker pulsed beneath his palm, and another, and finally, finally, the sirens cut off. Lights returned to normal, and a whirring sound soothed Lanod’s ears. 

OXYGEN REINSTATED. 

He turned from his station to find Green and Purple watching him, relief etched on their faces. They must’ve arrived just after Lando had, the whole ship drawn to the emergency bells. Beyond them, Red stood in the doorway. Watching him. Lando felt his mouth tug upwards, and hoped it wasn’t his imagination or the remaining adrenaline that told him there was approval in Red’s eyes. Approval and - something, something else, something that made Lando’s toes curl. Something that made him linger until both Cyan, Purple and Green had left, until it was just Red and him, Red stepping closer, making his heart flicker and swoop - 

EMERGENCY MEETING. DEAD BODY FOUND.

Lando set off for the Cafeteria at a run. 

*

Purple had reported the body this time. He’d been headed back to Admin to finish his task, when he’d found Pink at the doorway to Electrical. Mouth set in a grim line, he issued a stark warning. This Imposter was smart. He must have used the sabotage to lie in wait in the bends by Electrical, knowing that a crewmate would rush by to help. Lando felt a shiver down his spine, and was suddenly infinitely glad he’d taken the Upper Engine route to Reactor. He felt a flicker of pity for the grief in Purple’s eyes. It was obvious they’d been good friends. Once his story was complete, Purple bowed his head in silence. 

And then the arguing began. 

Accusations, declarations, theorisations. Distrust glittered from the eyes of all, doubt and lies being the order of the day. Lando  _ hated  _ it. He’d joined the space crews to find camaraderie, to find family. Instead he’d found sabotage, betrayal and murder. But he kept quiet, offering his input where it seemed necessary, hoping that they’d rid themselves of this for once and for all. 

Finally, Purple called the vote.

One by one, stacking up. One vote for Red, Dark Blue’s eyes still darkly distrustful, but the rest -

One by one, the rest piled up.

On Brown.

His eyes widened, his expression slowly dawning, tightening in realisation, slackening in fear. 

He’d called an early vote without explanation, without reason. He’d been unaccounted for in the first death. He hadn’t responded to the Oxygen alarm. 

Little things, little details, slowing stacking up against Brown. 

It was a shame. Brown had seemed nice. Maybe, in a different world, he and Lando could’ve been friends. 

Lando closed his eyes as Brown was ejected from the airlock. 

*

Lando couldn’t stop his hands shaking. Brown had screamed on the way to the airlock. Screamed that it wasn’t him. And it hadn’t been. He couldn’t stop his hands from  _ shaking.  _

_ That could have been him.  _

That could have been him.

Could have, he whispered to himself, could have been, but it wasn’t. It  _ wasn’t.  _ He was still here. He could still survive. He  _ would  _ still survive, and he would do it by keeping his head down, and finishing his tasks. He didn’t have time to think about the way Brown’s eyes had locked onto his, pleading, in the last seconds before he was gone. 

Lando put his head down. And completed his task. 

*

Electrical needed wiring fixed. Alright. He could do that. Lando tapped his map away, and headed out once more, finally arriving at the grate at the back of the room. Flicking it open, it took him moments to assess the damage and to fix it. The past hours, no matter how gruelling, had given him invaluable experience. Lando surveyed his work with pride, before sealing it back up once again. He turned to leave - 

And saw Red, once again in the doorway. And despite the stress. Despite the guilt, the fear, the exhaustion. Lando felt something within him relax. He smiled, tilting his head, moving closer to Red, his familiar face in a sea of storms and disasters. Red came forward to meet him, step by step until they were close enough to -

Lando choked. Felt something warm pooling around his midsection. His stomach - no longer performing acrobatics. The butterflies inside were no longer moving, no longer fluttering, but pinned to the wall, stone cold. 

Dead.

Red smiled as he twisted the knife.

And as he pulled away, Lando’s heart wrenched out with him. 

Thumping, in slow beats.

Through blurry eyes he watched as Red pattered up to the vent in the corner, looked around, then jumped through it. Through blurry eyes he remembered the vent in Navigation connected to the vent in Med Bay, explaining how Red had distanced himself from the first body so quickly. He remembered Red’s smile on seeing Lando, not out of some sort of imagined connection, but from the security of an alibi. He remembered how late Red had responded to Reactor, giving him time to ambush Pink before turning up. He remembered Red waiting for him at the doorway, not to greet him but to block his escape. Through blurry eyes, he remembered every single little detail. 

Lando cursed himself for forgetting every single rule there was.

Lando cursed himself for forgetting the only rule that mattered.

When it comes to crewmates - Red is sus. 

**Author's Note:**

> what have i become
> 
> tumblr is onehonoramongstthieves
> 
> im not super active on there but yeah come say hi
> 
> let me know what you thought! any mistakes, any issues, anything at all :)  
> (also if anyone can come up with a better fucking title, please please help me out lmao)


End file.
